Loud Yaletown penthouse all-nighters shut down

The owner of a Yaletown penthouse who liked to party into the wee hours with loud music has been ordered to tone it down after the building’s strata council took him to B.C. Supreme Court.

Documents filed with the court claimed that since owner Steven Newell moved into 193 Aquarius Mews in June 2010, frequent all-night parties followed, often with “extremely loud music.”

The condominium’s strata council said it tried imposing fines against Newell for breaking the building's bylaws, but the penalties proved to be “ineffective.”

Strata council letters of notice about after-hours loud music and noise were sent to Newell on nine different occasions between July 2010 and December 2011, documents showed.

Newell, president and CEO of Windset Farms — said to be one of the largest greenhouse vegetable companies in North America — claimed in his defence that the parties in his suite were only occasional.

Newell also said Yaletown is a neighbourhood in which the ambient noise level is high, which attracted him to the area in the first place.

But the court said the strata council was within its rights.

“Mr. Newell’s attitude seems to be that his closest neighbours – Mr. [Stanley] Yu and Mr. [David] Beilhartz – are killjoys and do not belong in Yaletown,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elaine Adair noted in her written decision.

But, "Yaletown living does not give Mr. Newell an excuse for ignoring the bylaws of his strata corporation," Adair wrote.

The judge ruled that Newell is banned from using his entertainment system, speakers or musical instruments on his deck and balcony or using his hot tub between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m.